A Sacramento County Sheriff's reserve deputy is one of the two people who died Saturday in the crash of a small plane at Roy Hayer Memorial Speedway behind the Rio Linda Airport, according to department officials.
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire arrived on the scene around 9 a.m., shortly after the crash.
Both occupants of the plane were declared dead on the scene. The cause of the crash, now being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration, is not yet clear, said fire department Capt. Christian Pebbles.
Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness said one of the dead was Dave Michaud, an on-call reserve deputy.
"He was a hardcore aviation guy who actually was in the military as an aviator," McGinness said.
McGinness said he met on Saturday with Michaud's widow -- a detective with the department.
"He did a stint with a commercial airline as a flight engineer. He was on reserve status for the sheriff's department, and worked periodically.
"He was a great guy," McGinness said. "It is a tragedy for the department. His passing is a big loss."
Michaud, who was 53, was a sociable person who enjoyed both flying and law enforcement, the sheriff said. He was once a patrol officer with the department before stepping down as a full-time deputy more than a decade ago.
"Frankly, I think he had two passions and he followed aviation more than law enforcement ultimately," McGinness said. "He had this airplane that he'd rebuilt and went out this morning with a mechanic to take it for a test ride after the mechanic had done some extensive work."
The plane was a 1960 Mooney, a small single-engine craft.
Robin Cable, 55, who lives near the airport, said that he looked out his window and saw thick, dark smoke rising about a quarter of a mile into the air. "It thought it was either a house fire or a car on fire," Cable said.
In Rio Linda Saturday, Sheriff's Capt. Scott Jones said that the crash site was a "horrific scene." He said Michaud, the pilot, was a full-time deputy from 1984 to 1996.
" ... Unfortunately it seems another in a string of tragedies the department has encountered over the years," Jones said. "We are like a large family."
In 2005, deputies Joseph Kievernagel, 36, and Kevin Blount, 29, died when their helicopter crashed near Lake Natoma. A third deputy, Eric Henrikson, sustained serious injuries.
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